The childhood friends who created the Hatchimals toys that ruled last year are now billionaires

Dennis Green

Oct. 13, 2017, 01:00 PM

Emma Fierberg

Canada has two new toy billionaires.

Ronnen Harary and Anton Rabie, the childhood friends who founded Spin Master and still each own about 30% of the company, are now in the exclusive billionaire's club, according to Bloomberg's calculus.

The company, which was founded in Toronto in 1994, got a 56% stock boost this year after the release of their hit toy, the Hatchimals, in 2016.

That makes both Harary and Rabie worth about $1.4 billion.

Hatchimals have been nothing short of a sensation for the brand, which has become one of the fastest-growing in the toy business. Hatchimals were one of the hardest-to-find toys of the 2016 holiday season, and they were widely considered the "it" toy every kid wanted.

In 2016, Spin Master had $1.2 billion in sales amid a toy market that has seen giants like Mattel and Lego miss sales expectations in the last year.